What the FBI actually wrote, when it wrote it, and whom it meant
On March 4, 1968, FBI headquarters issued a nationwide directive expanding its COINTELPRO program against what it labeled “Black Nationalist Hate Groups.” The memo set five long range goals. Goal number two reads, verbatim, “to prevent the rise of a ‘messiah’ who could unify, and electrify, the militant black nationalist movement.” The same passage names specific people in that context. “Malcolm X might have been such a ‘messiah’” and “Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and Elijah Muhammad all aspire to this position.” The Church Committee reproduced this text from the FBI’s directive in its official 1976 report. ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES+1
The Church Committee dates and contextualizes the memo. It explains that on March 4, 1968, the Bureau expanded the Black Nationalist program from 23 to 41 field offices and circulated the list of goals that included the “messiah” line above. That committee document is the primary congressional account of COINTELPRO’s inner paperwork and is the most widely cited source for this language. ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES
Several surviving FBI document sets and scans align with the Church Committee’s transcription. The National Archives release of FBI materials from file 100-HQ-448006 contains the same goal language about preventing the rise of a “messiah,” again tied specifically to the Black Nationalist target program. Although the image quality varies, the scan shows the passage in the Black Nationalist directive alongside the named figures. National Archives
The same “messiah” passage appears in later compilations of COINTELPRO source documents created from FBI files. Independent document readers that track original FBI pages reprint the text exactly, again within the Black Nationalist directive and again naming Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, and Elijah Muhammad in that context. ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES
Who the memo is talking about is unambiguous. In that line and its surrounding sentences, the directive associates the word “messiah” only with Black leaders and only within the Black Nationalist COINTELPRO program. The same Church Committee volume details FBI programs against the Ku Klux Klan and the New Left and lists their stated goals. Those sections do not include any “messiah” language. The “messiah” phrasing is presented as a goal unique to the Black Nationalist program in the March 4, 1968 directive. ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES
Key source quotes
Church Committee, Book III, reproducing the March 4, 1968 FBI directive:
“to prevent the rise of a ‘messiah’ who could ‘unify, and electrify,’ the movement, naming specifically Martin Luther King, Stokely Carmichael, and Elijah Muhammed.” The same discussion notes, “Malcolm X might have been such a ‘messiah’.” ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES+1
National Archives scan of FBI materials tied to COINTELPRO Black Nationalist files shows the goal as, “Prevent the rise of a ‘messiah’ who could unify, and electrify, the militant black nationalist movement,” with the same set of names discussed around it. National Archives
Who is referenced and why it matters
The memo explicitly places four Black figures in the “messiah” frame. Malcolm X appears as a retrospective example described as having had that potential. Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, and Elijah Muhammad appear as contemporaries the Bureau said “aspire to this position,” with a specific note that King “could be a very real contender” under certain conditions. This is not interpretation. It is what the FBI’s own goal statement and its elaboration say. ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES+1
On whether the FBI used “messiah” for non Black targets
In the Church Committee’s summaries of COINTELPRO against the Klan and the New Left, the goals are described in detail without any use of the term “messiah.” The famous “prevent the rise of a ‘messiah’” phrasing appears in the Black Nationalist directive. Comparable overviews of other COINTELPRO target programs in the same congressional report do not include that wording. ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES
Sources
United States Senate, Church Committee. Book III, “Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans.” Sections on COINTELPRO overview and Black Panther Party reproduce the March 4, 1968 directive, including the “messiah” language and the references to Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Stokely Carmichael, and Elijah Muhammad. ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES+1
National Archives released FBI COINTELPRO files. Scan shows the “prevent the rise of a ‘messiah’” goal within the Black Nationalist program documents connected to file 100-HQ-448006. National Archives
Church Committee Book III main COINTELPRO overview, which details separate programs against the New Left and against the Ku Klux Klan, lists their goals without any “messiah” phrasing. ASSASSINATION ARCHIVES
FBI Records, The Vault. COINTELPRO collections and indices for reference to the broader program corpus. vault.fbi.gov
